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Shoftim 4:4
This week’s
haftorah calls upon the Jewish people to display total faith in Hashem,
irrespective of their personal level of spirituality. Throughout the era
of the Judges the Jewish people fluctuated between devout service of
Hashem and practices of idolatry. They would typically become secure in
their ways and enjoy the comforts of their land which would inevitably
cause them to stray from the path of Hashem. In response, Hashem would
send one of the powerful nations of the world to oppress the Jews and remind
them that it was time to return to the ways of the Torah.
In this week’s
haftorah, we read about one of those times when the Jews strayed severely
from the proper path. In response, Hashem sent Yovin, the king of Canaan
to capture the Jewish nation and annex it to his mighty empire. After
Yovin’s firm control over the Jews for twenty years, the message finally
began to sink in and the Jews started to repent. Hashem responded to
their initial stages of repentance and sent them the Prophetess Devorah
to inspire them to complete the process. Through Devorah’s efforts the
Jewish people merited an incredible miracle and Devorah composed a most
moving song of praise describing Hashem’s great revelations.
Barak, the leading
Jewish general of the time was instructed to select ten thousand men and
charge into the Canaanite lines. Yovin, the king of Canaan had gathered
an army of hundreds of thousands and planned a massive attack against the
Jewish people. Hashem intervened on behalf of His people and created an
illusion of enormous proportions, which forced the Canaanites to retreat
and flee for their lives. In the midst of all of this, Hashem brought
blazing heat to the battle front and the Canaanites went down to the
Kishon Brook to cool off. At that exact moment, the brook miraculously
overflowed and the Canaanites were swept into the water and drowned.
Devorah sings about this miracle and says, “The Kishon Brook swept them
away, that ancient brook Kishon, my soul treads with strength.” (Shoftim
5: 21) Devorah refers to the Kishon as an ancient brook, seeming to
relate the Kishon to an earlier incident in Jewish history. Our Chazal in
Tractate Pesachim (115b) explain that this earlier incident was, in fact,
at the time of the splitting of the Reed Sea which we read about in this
week’s sedra.
Chazal (ad loc.)
quote an intriguing conversation which took place between Hashem and the
angel appointed by Hashem to control the Reed Sea. The Rabbis reflect on
a passage in Tehillim (106) which indicates that the Jewish people were
seriously lacking in their degree of faith in Hashem even while crossing
the sea. Although they heard the message of Moshe Rabbeinu regarding the
destruction of the Egyptians some doubted the authenticity of Moshe’s
prophecy and found it difficult to believe that it would actually
transpire. Therefore when the sea miraculously opened and remained open
there were those who entertained the idea that the Egyptians were also
crossing the sea in safety. The reason for this doubt was because some of
the Jewish people felt undeserving of a miracle of such great
proportions. Now that the sea actually split it was difficult to believe
that it would immediately cave in on the Egyptians. They therefore
entertained the possibility that the Egyptians were also crossing in
safety. In order to dispel this fiction, Hashem instructed the angel in
control of the Reed Sea to arrange for the sea to spit out the dead
Egyptians onto the shore. Once the Jewish people would see the dead
Egyptians, they would understand what had truly transpired inside the
sea. The angel fulfilled his command but responded that the fish deserved
their newly acquired gift of Egyptian bodies and requested for a
replacement sometime in the future. Hashem agreed and informed the angel
that the Kishon Brook would eventually sweep replacements into the sea
and the fish would retrieve their ancient gift.
The above
discussion suggests a direct corollary between the splitting of the Reed
Sea and the overflow of the Kishon Brook. It reveals that there was a
missing dimension of faith at the Reed Sea but that it was finally
rectified in Devorah’s times at the Kishon Brook. The analogy of the fish
reflects an incomplete sense of the miracles of Hashem. Although the
Egyptians drowned in the sea, this did not complete their destruction
process and they remained intact laying on the sea shore. Due to the
shortcomings of the Jewish people the Reed Sea was not permitted to
function in its fullest capacity by swallowing up the Egyptians. In
truth, the splitting of the sea served a dual function; to provide
salvation for the Jewish people and to destroy the Egyptian nation.
Although the first function was fulfilled to perfection, the second was
not carried out in its entirety, because of the doubts of some Jewish people.
Their lack of faith caused that the sea could not act in its usual manner
but was instead forced to cast the Egyptians onto the shore to prove its
authentic role in their destruction. The angel’s response to this
phenomena was that the sea deserved a perfect role in miracles and should
have the opportunity of a perfect demonstration of the hand of Hashem. To
this Hashem responded that the miracle of the Kishon Brook would serve
this capacity in full.
In the days of
Devorah a similar spiritual climate existed to that at the Reed Sea and
the Jewish people didn’t feel worthy of great revelations. They had
recently begun the long process of return and could never imagine that
Hashem would perform miracles on their behalf. However, when Barak was
instructed to select his ten thousand men and charge against the massive
Canaanite army he accepted his command immediately and acted out his
role. He and his men demonstrated total faith in Hashem and believed
whole-heartedly that Hashem would perform an open miracle solely on their
behalf. Although their level of spirituality was far from perfect they
displayed total faith in Hashem. This time there was no doubt in their
minds and no need existed for Hashem to prove the extent of His
involvement on behalf of His people. This time the sea was granted its
complete role and was permitted to swallow the Canaanites without casting
them out onto the shore. Hashem’s revelation of the Reed Sea was finally
complete because the subsequent miracle of the Kishon was met with perfect
faith in Hashem. We learn from this to trust in Hashem and His prophets,
irrespective of our assessment of our own spiritual level. Hashem truly
cares about us and will deliver whenever the need does arise.
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